Harris Theater Announces 2014-15 Music Season

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance today announced a broad spectrum of music performances for the 2014-2015 Harris Theater Presents season, one of the most ambitious music offerings to date, featuring many of today's leading musicians, ensembles, and organizations from around the world.

The 2014-2015 music season at the Harris will include historic premieres from two international ensembles: the tour launch and North American debut of Italian opera house Teatro Regio Torino of Turin, Italy, led by Music Director Maestro Gianandrea Noseda, in a concert production of Gioachino Rossini's rarely performed opera William Tell- marking the first time an Italian opera house will tour an opera in concert form in North America; and direct from Mexico City, the Orquesta Sinfo?nica del Estado de Me?xico (National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico) with Maestro Enrique Ba?tiz, co-presented by the Harris Theater and the National Museum of Mexican Art, performing a unique Spanish festival program celebrating Latino heritage in their Chicago debut.

The Harris is also thrilled to present pianist and Avery Fischer Career Grant recipient Inon Barnatan in his first-ever Chicago solo recital concert; and the Sphinx Virtuosi returns to the Harris with a special Eat + Drink to the Beat program honoring a musical milestone in American history. Experimental performance artist Laurie Anderson makes her third appearance at the Harris Theater, now with a new multimedia project created in collaboration with the San Francisco- based Kronos Quartet in a Chicago premiere. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will begin its second three-year artistic residency at the Theater in 2014-2015 with an expanded five-concert series, including the city's newest holiday tradition, the entire Bach Brandenburg Concertos, performed by some of the world's most important chamber musicians. CMS concludes 2014-2015 with a unique collaborative concert with the nine-time Grammy Award-winning Emerson String Quartet, featuring newly appointed cellist Paul Watkins.

"As audiences know, music at the Harris Theater is a singular experience," said Michael Tiknis, the Harris Theater's President and Managing Director. "We're celebrating many firsts in 2014-2015, one of which is sure to be a highlight of Chicago's music season, along with an expanded residency with one of the world's premier organizations, and a must- see collaboration between two music legends. We look forward to hearing all these magnificent artists in concert, enhanced by the unique acoustics as only the Harris can provide. "

See a full listing of Harris Theater Presents 2014-15 music performances below.

With an uncompromising technique and soul-stirring virtuosity, Israeli pianist and Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient Inon Barnatan performs in his Chicago solo recital debut this fall, followed by a performance as a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center later in the season. Barnatan, appointed by the New York Philharmonic as its first Artist-in- Association in 2013, has been lauded around the world, both in concert and for his critically

acclaimed recordings of works by Beethoven and Schubert. Considered a musical prodigy when he was just 3 years old and making his orchestral debut at 11, Barnatan has performed in concert with the Cleveland, Houston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco Symphony orchestras, along with solo recitals at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A highlight of the 2014-2015 Harris Theater Presents season, Teatro Regio Torino of Turin, Italy, launches its first-ever North American tour in Chicago at the Harris Theater with a rare concert production of Gioachino Rossini's William Tell. Rossini's grand opera has not been heard in Chicago since 1986, when the Lithuanian Opera Company of Chicago last performed it. Now, one of Italy's oldest and most venerable opera companies, under the leadership of internationally acclaimed Music Director Gianandrea Noseda, celebrates its North American debut with Rossini's last and most famous work, chronicling the adventures of a 15th century Swiss folk hero and his legendary expertise with a crossbow. Teatro Regio Torino's four-stop tour-with performances in Chicago, Ann Arbor, Toronto, and New York's Carnegie Hall-marks the first time an Italian opera house will tour an opera in concert form in North America. The December 3 production will feature soprano Angela Meade as Matilde, tenor John Osborn as Arnoldo, and baritone Fabio Capitanucci in the title role of Guglielmo Tell.

The 2014 Sphinx Virtuosi tour, Americana, features works by American composers with the highlight of the program being a new commission by Sphinx Virtuosi Composer-In- Residence, Jessie Montgomery. Her new work, Banner!, is a jubilant celebration of the

centennial of the Star Spangled Banner. The Sphinx Virtuosi and its award-winning ensemble of young African American and Latino string players make their Eat + Drink to the Beat debut in October. The Sphinx Virtuosi has garnered critical acclaim for its regular performances at New York's Carnegie Hall and for its diverse range of classical repertoire.

One of Mexico's most esteemed classical music ensembles, the award-winning Orquesta Sinfo?nica del Estado de Me?xico (National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico), co-presented by the Harris Theater and the National Museum of Mexican Art, celebrates the rich history of its home country in its Chicago debut. In a riveting program featuring works by Enrique Granados, Joaqui?n Rodrigo, Manuel Ponce, and Manuel de Falla, the orchestra will be joined by Alfonso Moreno-one of the greatest interpreters known to the world of classical guitar-and piano soloist Irina Chistiakova. Celebrated conductor Enrique Ba?tiz leads this exceptional cultural treasure in works celebrating a rich foundation of musical heritage. Ba?tiz is a former guest with the London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and principal guest conductor with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

The beguiling genius of experimental multimedia artist Laurie Anderson returns to the Harris Theater for the third time since her Harris Theater debut in 2008. Anderson teams with the legendary San Francisco-based Kronos Quartet for the first time in Landfall, a collection of works composed on hyper violin and